INDIAN GOVERNMENT GRANTS SUPPORT TO DOMESTIC AIRLINES

Domestic airlines have been given a reprieve by the Indian civil aviation ministry, which has allowed them to continue to employ expat commanders and keep them on their rolls until 2013. Some 240 more aircraft are expected to enter service in Indian over the next three years to meet the increasing travel demand. The government had been intending to phase out expat pilots by July 2011 to make way for Indian pilots, but the significant demand has forced a reprieve until 2013. Heavy lobbying by domestic airlines, under the umbrella of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), requested the regulator,